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Growing up, did anyone else listen to Casey Kasem’s countdown and write down the results. I didn’t do it every week, but I definitely did it for his year-end Top 100. On a big yellow legal pad. (Someone say yes. I still feel weird 45 years later!)
Bless you all die your honestly. I assumed it was just me. Lol. And for year-end 100, I’d not only write the results down, I’d also tape the whole countdown. My little brother and I would sit on the carpet wearing marching big headphones. Like Davy Jones on the Brady Bunch.
I no longer write down the results. But now there are books about the history of the charts. And for some reason, I still try to read most of them. (We’ll save the self-analysis about my need for order for later in the thread.)
And on a side note: Didn’t it seem like Long Distance Dedication was always from a US Army base in West Germany? And no matter what the letter said, it always ended w/ “Kasey, can you play Open Arms by Journey?
And then naturally I’d make my family listen to my year-end cassette on the rare occasion we’d take a family driving trip. I distinctly remember Bohemian Rhapsody being top ten for 1976 and hearing it as we approached Santa Barbara. 
“And we are down to the final two of the Top Songs of 1976 countdown. At number two, it’s Elton John & Kiki Dee with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”
“And now we’ve reached the part you’ve all been waiting for. With his old band, this artist had the number one singles of 1964 & 1968. And he’s done it again. With the number 1 song of 1976, it’s Paul McCartney & Wings with Silly Love Songs.”
And number 2 for 1975:
Which means that the number one song of 1975 is by this married duo that got their start playing in the piano bar at the Smokehouse restaurant in Encino, about two minutes from my childhood home:
Maybe this needs its own thread some night, but I just counted that 8 of the top 19 songs of 1978 were all written by Barry Gibb. I don’t know if there’s been that level of dominance on a year end chart, before or since. Incredible.
Ok, some of you raise a great question. Who was more dominant? The Bee Gees in ‘78 or the Beatles in ‘64. Barry Gibb wrote 8 of top 20. But Beatles themselves had 5 of top 16 including the first two.
I’d also submit for consideration, The Monkees in 1967. The only act ever to have four number one albums in the same calendar year I’m told.
Obviously, Michael Jackson in 1983 needs to be included with two of the top five songs, plus the biggest selling album of all time!
Jackson 5 had 4 number one singles in 1970. That has to be up there too. But I’ll make Greatest Chart Year by an artist its own thread tomorrow.
